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H1909 • 2025

An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses

An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses

Housing
Active

The official status still shows this bill as active or still awaiting another formal step.

Sponsor
James M. Murphy
Last action
2026-03-26
Official status
Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses

An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses By Representative Murphy of Weymouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.

What This Bill Does

  • An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses By Representative Murphy of Weymouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No.
  • 1909) of James M.
  • Murphy for legislation to establish penalties for landlords knowingly providing premises to be used for illegal drug purposes.
  • The Judiciary.

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Bill History

  1. 2026-03-26 House

    Accompanied a study order, see H5281 (under House Rule 27)

  2. 2025-10-10 Joint

    Hearing scheduled for 10/21/2025 from 01:00 PM-05:00 PM in A-2

  3. 2025-02-27 House

    Referred to the committee on The Judiciary

  4. 2025-02-27 Senate

    Senate concurred

  5. House

    Reported by committee to Clerk’s Office for processing, will accompany a study order

Official Summary Text

An Act relative to landlords accountability with regard to drug houses
By Representative Murphy of Weymouth, a petition (accompanied by bill, House, No. 1909) of James M. Murphy for legislation to establish penalties for landlords knowingly providing premises to be used for illegal drug purposes. The Judiciary.

Current Bill Text

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Bill H.1909

SECTION 1: Chapter 139 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition,Chapter 20

is hereby amended by adding in the first line before the word "whoever" the following:

Section 20 (a) An owner of a residential dwelling unit shall not knowingly and intentionally rent, lease, profit from, or make available for use, with or without compensation, the dwelling unit which is used for the unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distributing, or using a controlled substance as set forth in section 31 of chapter 94C; provided, however that no housing authority shall be an owner under this section.

SECTION 2: Chapter 139 of the General Laws, as appearing in the 2014 Official Edition is hereby further amended by adding at the end of Chapter 20 the following:

(b) Any landlord who violates subsection (a), and who knew or reasonably should have known that said dwelling unit is being used for unlawfully manufacturing, storing, distribution, or using a controlled substance shall be subject to a civil penalty of not more than the greater of: $1,000 for the first offense; $5,000 for the second offense; and $10,000 for each offense after; and possible forfeiture of said dwelling.

If a civil penalty is calculated under this subsection and there is more than 1 defendant, the court may apportion the penalty between multiple violators, but each violator shall be jointly and severally liable for the civil penalty under this subsection.

(c) Penalties paid under this section shall be collected during time of sentencing and disbursed to the arresting agency to be used for drug awareness education or substance abuse counseling or advocacy for youths, parents and other interested adults.

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